The 69th Hunger Games
by Madhatterpenguin
Summary: THIS IS ABOUT A GIRL NAMED CASSAVA ELMS IN DISTRICT 7
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Sun rays from an open window flutter on my face,  
I blink a few times and roll around. it's sunday, might as well get some sleep.

Then I freeze. My heart skips a beat. Today was not any Sunday. Today was reaping day.

"Great" I think, "I woke myself up" I rolled over to see the time, 6:49.  
I knew I couldn't go back to bed, I never could. I was like that all my life, when I'm up,  
I'm up-and there's no going back to sleep.

It was my first reaping,and I was scared out of my socks.

I slowly get out of bed trying not disturb willow. Oh willow, sweet innocent willow. She knows nothing about the dangers that lie in this world.  
I Brush a few strands of her blonde,silky, long hair of her face and kiss her on her forehead.

I go to the wooden chest where we keep our clothes, I stroke my hand over the wood. I grab a yellow t-shirt and some black pants,and put them on. yellow was my FAVORITE color.  
It was the sun peeking over the mountains during sunrise,  
it was the sweet honey nectar I get a spoonful of on my birthday,  
it was the sunflowers and tulips that dot the plains and meadows that seem to go on forever.  
I head to the kitchen.

I headed to the cupboard and grabbed a bag of oat grains, I was not the best chef in the world-but I wanted to make oatmeal for my family today.

Bark, my dog, nuzzled my leg. I patted his forehead.  
One day Venus and I were going to get more seeds for our mother,  
when I saw something near a pile of rocks, Venus said it was a squirrel-but curiosity got the best of me.  
I went over and it was a puppy. it was not even 2 weeks old! I was letting it lick my fingers,  
when Venus said we couldn't keep it. I was bawling and making a fit.  
She finally gave in and we kept him.

I cooked the oat meal and waited,and waited,and waited.

Finally, it was ready.  
As I was pouring the mush into six bowls willow walked in the kitchen rubbing her eyes.

"cassava" she said sleepily

"yes willow?" I answered, I glanced at the clock, 7:12.

"I'm hungry" she whimpered. I was too.

"the oatmeal's still hot" I reply "let's get you changed"

I head towards the chest. Venus is already there with Hayward. She has the same reddish hair like mine.  
But her eyes were brown like hayward's and mine were blue like willow's-but Hayward and willow were both blondes.

I find willow a blue polka dotted dress,and slip her in to it.

"guess what?" hayward asked

"What?" we all reply-annoyed, we know what's coming, hayward's birthday Is in a week, and he reminds us everyday since 2 months ago

"I'm going be 9 in exactly 1 week, 2 days, 3 hours, 53 minutes, and 45,44,43 seconds " he says, how does he remember this stuff?

"I'm five!" willow says

"yes,yes you are" Venus replies

"how old are you again Venus?" hayward asks

"16" she replies

"that means you would have 5 slips" he says. We were on the richer side of the district, since our mom runs a flower shop. So Venus never had to take tesserae.

Mom comes up behind us and puts her hand on hayward's shoulder, "wow," she says "are we having a party here?"

"I made breakfast" I announce

"go wake your father up and then we can eat" replies mom. Willow runs up to the bed he sleeps on and pounces on him.  
He bolts awake, then grabs willow and tickles her, she shrieks with laughter.

I look over at my mom, with her waist length red hair, and hazel eyes,and she's smiling-we all are, hayward,Venus,me AND willow-and dad too

We all charge to the kitchen. I serve the oatmeal with a few strawberries.

We all eat. And when we finish we lick our bowls clean. No food wasted. At all.

As my mom finishes washing and drying our bowls, there's a knock on the door.

I run to get it, it's Damon- my best friend.

When we met It was a cool sunny day, my favorite kind of weather.  
I was 40 feet in a tree taking a was a rustle of branches. Instantly I jumped up thinking it might be an animal but it wasn't, it was a boy and i guess he didnt see me either cause he was startled too.  
He was tall and blonde,  
with hazel eyes and tan skin he looked 2 years older than me (I was 9 back then so he was 11),  
he said "woah how'd you get up here?"

"same way as you," I replied "I climbed"

"no I mean UP HERE!"

"what?" I said confused

"you're so high up, I only pulled up the courage to climb this high today" he replied

"I've been climbing up here since I was 6" I said

"what? Cool! Oh by the way I'm Damon." he stuck out his hand

"cassava" I said and shook his

Everyday we would meet up after school and just hang out up here, it was our special tree.

"Damon!" I said, and hugged him. He held out a bag of what I think were blueberry muffins.

"let's go" he said.

"ok" I replied. I ran over to my parents and kissed my dad on the cheek, "bye mom,bye dad" I ran over the willow and Hayward and patted their heads, "bye guys" then I ran over the Venus, "bye venus" I said

"have fun with your boyfriend!" she called out

I buried my face in my hand to conceal the blushing, "he is not my boyfriend" I said

He put his arms on my shoulders and steered me away from my house.  
But I couldn't look at him, I was too embarrassed. awkward silence

As we climbed the tree i noticed things were more quiet that usual, oh right, it was me. awkward silence

We nestled in a branch. awkward silence " here you go savs" he tossed me a muffin. I caught it.

"thanks" I said. More awkward silence.

"I got you something," he said, breaking the awkward silence.

"what?" I asked, I was not talking much.

He held out a necklace, it had a four leaf clover pressed between two sheets of glass.

"woah!"I said, almost yanking it out of his hands, "aren't this only in books and fairytales and stuff" I asked

"yeah, well I was walking through the meadow one day, and I found it, I bought some scrap glass and pressed it against the clover," he explain "I know you're a sucker for those good luck thingies, fairytales and happily ever after crap"

"it's not crap" I say punching him playfully "but thank you sooo much!" I squealed and hugged him. I put on the necklace.

"ok let's go home now" he says

"why" I ask "it's only 1:35" I say glancing at my watch.

"did you finish your homework?" he asks

"no, why can't we finish it at 3:00, like usual?" I ask. He looks at me, then I remember, reaping day.

He notices the color drain out of my face.

"oh cassava," he says, and hugs me "it's your first year"

"but they do pick 12 year olds" I respond

"Venus will volunteer for you" he reassures me

We drop the the topic and we walk to my house. "see ya' at 2:30" he calls out and waves goodbye. I wave goodbye back

After I finish 29 problems of pre-algebra i head to the chest.

I shuffle through the clothes until I find it.

I hold up the white laced dress to the sun,little splotches of sun seep through the fabric. I slowly changed in to it.  
I adjusted the blue dress was my mother's. She gave it to venus when she was 10,  
but she never wore it because "it was too girly" so she gave it to me. while i was combing my red hair,  
my hands were venus came out of the bathroom,wearing a blue sun dress,her mess of a hair was in a bun.  
"you look very pretty"I said. And I wasn't lying,she looked like a princess. Venus blushed and said

"you don't look too bad yourself"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

As I slipped on a pair of worn out tan flats and Venus made herself and I a sandwich,  
willow tugged on my dress and said "sava pretty, me want to be pretty too!"

"but you already are pretty" I answer "prettier than me" she giggled

"thanks yous" she says

As mom and dad were getting Hayward and willow ready, there was a weird shift in the air, a sense of worry. But no one said anything as we walked to the square.

Venus and I got in line, I saw they were pricking fingers-I freaked out. Venus said it would hurt. But I lined up to get my hand pricked,  
I was still jittery. I hate blood! A peacekeeper with black rubber gloves jabbed a needle quickly into my fingertip, I winced as he did so. He pressed my bloody finger on a ledger. On the screen it read "ELMS, CASSAVA 12/YO" it prints out my name on a slip of paper, the peacekeeper folds it in half and dropped it in a box,  
later another peacekeeper takes it away and dumps it in the reaping I went into the 12 year olds section,  
I caught gaze with eyes filled with fear, she looked at me and shook her head,meaning no I was NOT getting picked.  
I shook it off and met gaze with Damon

He was wearing a button up shirt and gelled his hair,he tries to conceal his fear as much as I do.

I focus on Peppty,our escort. She, as usual, had her electric blue hair poofed up.  
Her nails were painted green with flecks of gold in them. She was wearing a green blouse and brown pencil skirt- with a green sweater to match as well. He 6" high heels were brown with slashes of black and blue printed on them.  
Her make-up was heavily piled on, chalk white foundation, glimmery red blush, thick red lipstick, heavy eyeliner, long fake lashes, and bright green,gold,brown,and black eyeshadow-lots of it.

I only know these words because one of the mayor's 7 daughters, Greta umbling, told me. She Is a make-up freak

I chuckled to myself, "oh Peppty," I thought "if it wasn't for your hair you might have passed off as a tree"

"welcome, to the 69th annual hunger games!"

She showed a video about the dark days

She made a speech, then the mayor. Then showed us our victors.

"time to select one young man and woman, to represent their district in the 69th annual hunger games"she said in her Capitol accent

I could see Damon mocking her. I chuckled, "sometimes Peppty IS a little predictable " I thought

She swirled her hands in the bowl and plucked out a slip, I swore I saw "Elms" on there somewhere...  
I was right.  
But it wasn't my name,

It was Venus's

As Venus went up the stairs, she showed no emotion at all,but tears were on the verge with me. We met gaze

"any volunteers" Peppty said

"no" Venus mouth with a stern look at me.

Tears were rolling down my face now.

"ok" Peppty says "now for the boys" she sticks her hand in the bowl and does the same procedure as the the girls reaping bowl.  
She pulled out a name and read "Steven crownsworth"

Steven crownsworth ,was 15 years old he had short brown hair and Brownish eyes,he was not that tall,but not that short. His father worked at the shoe a few blocks from our house though.

The mayor read the treaty of treason and they shook hands.

"happy hunger games"she said "and may the odds be EVER in your favor" the anthem played and the were sent the the the justice hall.

As they dismissed everyone, I sprinted towards the justice hall. I was fast, super fast. I was the fast girl in the school and I was only 12. No so good with endurance but I still got 3rd place.

When I got there, I was the first one. So I waited for my family to come. we all went together, my whole family.

"you have ten minutes" the peacekeeper said. My dad nodded.

"I'm gonna miss you Venus" willow choked out we all group hugged.  
"me too, will."she managed to say. I knew if she talked she would cry.

"I love you" I said

"please come home dear" mom said. Hayward reached into his pockets,and pulled out a locket, he handed it to venus.

"I was going to give it to you on your birthday, but..." his voice trailed off. Venus opened the locket, on one side were drawings of willow,  
Hayward,and me, and on the other were drawings of mom and dad. Where did he get that locket from? How did he learn how to draw like that?

She hugged us and whispered "I love you guys too" we stayed like this, refusing to let go eventually the peacekeepers had to pry us apart and we were dragged away.

The door slammed shut. Then I lost it. I started crying like crazy. We all were.

We headed back to the square where we saw Venus and Steven entering the train.

When we got home, I collapsed on my bed.,face down. Sobbing.

Someone laid next to me, I couldn't tell, it wasn't dad,it wasn't mom,it wasn't willow,it wasn't Hayward. He rubbed my back soothingly.

"it's ok cassava" he said

"no it's not damon!" I snapped

"come on,let's go to the tree"

We climbed up the branches, as we nestled in our branch intersections I lost it. I couldn't stop the flow of tears, It was just to much.

"cassava take it easy" he tried to calm me. Tears.

He tried everything to calm me, even singing. And believe me, if you hear Damon singing you would burst into laugher-  
but the song he was singing was the one Venus used to sing to me when I was little. More tears.

After almost trying everything, he did one last thing. He kissed me 


End file.
